


Support

by Leni



Series: Makes Three [10]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 18:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14062866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: "Belle had been sleeping almost as little as him, in the last week. She must be exhausted."





	Support

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Joylee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joylee/gifts).



> @joylee56 asked Rumbelle + “Don’t interrupt me. I’m counting.”

“There you are,” Rumpelstiltskin said, smiling at the sight of Belle before he registered the scene. He glanced around in surprise; his larder had never been stocked to the brim, and though he’d paid for the delivery of fine porcelain, he hadn’t realized that Belle had ordered the many boxes that laid empty around the room. “Quite the magnanimous host, I am,” he murmured, taking all in. And because he knew the nature of his exalted guests, he added with candor, “Even if one of the fools must crawl off on their new snail legs, my largesse will not be denied.”

He waited for Belle to remind him that his largesse consisted solely on giving her carte blanche - or at least to roll her eyes and point out that snails didn’t have legs - but her only response was an absent-minded hum.

“Sweetheart?”

She had been sleeping almost as little as him, in the last week. She must be exhausted. “You should be in bed already, my dear.” Rumpelstiltskin approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders from behind. “I looked for you in the kid’s room, and was starting to worry when the library was empty too.”

“Too busy to read.”

His eyebrows rose, but he made no comment. Belle had been planning tomorrow’s meeting for weeks, and though he gave little importance to whether their royal neighbors supported him or not, he knew that Belle fretted.

“Belle, you need to rest,” he told her, leaning in to kiss the crown of her hair. “Everything will be—”

“Don’t interrupt me,” she cut in. “I’m counting.”

That was when Rumpelstiltskin realized that every plate, glass, spoon and fork had been grouped together in stacks and that Belle was checking them against a list. “Did the merchant cheat us?” he asked, voice low and strained as he banked down the anger at the idea.

“I don’t think so? But I’m counting anyway.”

The anger abandoned him as swiftly as it had arrived. “Belle, even if something were missing, I’d conjure it at once.”

“No magic!”

“Sweetheart, I won’t have you stressing yourself when a simple spell—”

“Rumple, please.” She put down her list and feather, and turned in his arms. “No magic tomorrow, promise; not at the meeting.”

He made a face. “It won’t be a shock, you know. They know what I am. Oh, they know!” He sniggered at the thought of the party tomorrow, where everyone would pretend they’d never visited his castle in secret to strike a deal. “The Dark One’s magic won’t faze them.”

Belle gave a sigh. “They’re not coming to make you a deal this time,” she said, as if reading his mind. “It’s not the Dark One they’ve accepted as their host, but a fellow lord who is concerned over Regina’s threat.”

“I’m lord over nothing but what’s inside my castle-” he looked at her meaningfully- “and even that has come into doubt lately.”

Belle’s lips twitched a little, but she wasn’t distracted. “A castle grander than any other,” she told him, appealing to his pride before she tackled a thornier subject, “and the five villages between the foot of the mountain and the river.”

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. “Just because no one wants them, it doesn’t follow that they’re mine.”

“It does.” Her hand slipped into his and held tight. “When the people claim that they’re under your rule.”

His laughter stemmed from experience rather than amusement, and was bitter with ancient resentment against a ruler he and his son hadn’t been able to escape. “A bunch of farmers and laborers can’t choose their lord.”

Belle pursed her mouth, as his words had hit the mark. “Be as it may,” she retrenched, “that’s what everyone has decided to accept as truth.”

Rumpelstiltskin smirked. He had perused the letters Belle had sent, and he’d admired her cleverness as she led the reader through quotes and precedents that would allow them to heed his invitation as if it came from a knight of the realm.

“That was your doing, sweetheart.” He grinned, openly proud of her talent for convincing strangers to do as she willed. Even if her weapon was exhaustive research instead of the mind games Rumpelstiltskin favored, her skill was impressive. “But you know it won’t last,” he told her softly, arranging a lock of hair behind her ear with his free hand. “Even if the day ends in some sort of alliance, they’ll turn against me the minute Regina is neutralized.”

Belle set her jaw, and Rumpelstiltskin understood she’d fight the inevitable. She wanted a bright future for her boy, an unlikely prospect for the Dark One’s ward unless Rumpelstiltskin improved his reputation - a task Belle was willing to take on. She had started by making sure that every monarch on the Enchanted Forest knew that the Evil Queen had lost the support of her former mentor.

“They’d be fools to lose you.”

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. “They’re fools already.”

“But that’ll change,” Belle said with optimism. “And we will give them no reason to go back on their word.”

Nothing he did would change the outcome, so he chose to indulge his love. “Very welSl, darling.” He played with a lock of her hair. “No magic before the guests.”

She turned her head to kiss the pulse point at his wrist. “Thank you, Rumple.”

“And in exchange-” her exhale of laughter made him smile too- “you’re coming to bed now.”

“I haven’t finished!”

“Everything is ready, and you know it or you wouldn’t have told the cooks to leave early.”

“But….”

“Now, Belle.”

She dislodged her grasp on him and looked around. Although she looked calmer than when he’d first entered the kitchen, Rumpelstiltskin knew the stubborn look on her face.

“My dear,” he said, taking her elbow in a light grasp as he bent to speak in her ear, “if I’m wrong, I’ll help you. Ah, ah!  _Tomorrow_.”

She pouted at the condition, but at last nodded.

“Deal?”

“Yes, Rumple,” she said, smiling at his insistence to frame every compromise as a deal, “I’ll go with you now.”

 

The End  
22/03/18

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


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